Russia's Ambassador to the European Union Vladimir Chizhov

MOSCOW, October 20 /TASS/. Russia has a list of persons banned from entering Russia which it is not going to publish, Russia's Ambassador to the European Union Vladimir Chizhov said in an interview with Rossiya 24 TV news channel on Monday.

"Such a list really exists,” he said. “But neither the Russian legislation nor international commitments oblige us to publish it. As a rule, stop lists are not published in international practice,” Chizhov told Rossiya 24, adding that the publication of the list by the Russian side could escalate tensions over the Ukraine crisis.

"No one has been included in the list by accident. The top leaders of countries are not on this list,” Chizhov said.

The European Union still remembers about Crimea, but there is a growing trend to leave the solution to Russia and Ukraine and remove the issue from the EU agenda, Chizhov noted.